"Neither we nor our partners have ever intended to hold a parallel summit," the Russian news agencies quoted Russian deputy presidential administration head Sergei Prikhodko as saying.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac, who strongly opposed the US-led war on Iraq, are to hold talks in Russia's second largest city Saint Petersburg Friday and Saturday.

Russia, Germany and France want the UN to take on a central role in the reconstruction of Iraq once hostilities cease there, Prikhodko said.

"The positions of our countries on this issue are well known. We believe that the UN should oversee the post-war reconstruction of Iraq," he said.

US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who are allies in the military operation in Iraq, met for a two-day summit centering on developments there in Northern Ireland's capital Belfast Monday and Tuesday.

Paris, Berlin and Moscow formed an anti-war axis that was largely responsible for blocking Washington's attempts to get approval in the UN Security Council for its military operation in Iraq.

A Kremlin official said Thursday there would be no joint declaration on Iraq after the Saint Petersburg meeting between the Russian, German and French leaders.

SPACE.WIRE